I ended up getting to the gym a bit late today because of various things I got caught up in at work. When I arrived, all 3 lanes had people in them. I was amazed. Usually the gym turns into a ghost town around 1:30, but today the pool was full. I wasn’t sure where I would swim. The slow lane had a really slow old lady in it. The middle lane had a good swimmer going quite fast. The fast lane had a fairly slow swimmer. When I started getting dressed I realized that I lost yet another lock. I checked with lost and found, but they didn’t have it. I figure I left it on my locker… unlocked, so someone knows the combination. Lame. I’ve got to be more careful with those locks!

As luck would have it, by the time I was dressed and showered, the old lady had gone and the slow lane was open. I warmed up my usual 500, noticing that the swimmer in the middle lane was quite fast. I was pretty sure I could beat him, though… well, I was sure I could beat him in freestyle, but his breast stroke looked pretty fast (and let’s be honest, I suck at breast stroke). By the time I was done with my warm up, the guy in the fast lane had gone and a really fat old lady was preparing to get in the pool. I took the opportunity to switch to the fast lane and stretch out. During this time, the swimmer in the middle lane started doing a butterfly stroke-drill. He never actually did any butterfly, but it’s still pretty draining just to do the drill. He was stopping every 25 for a few seconds and then going again. I was sure my endurance was better and I was half tempted to start my workout with 5 x 100 IM instead of my usual 5 x 100 free, but I decided that would be poor form.

After my first 2 100s free @ 2:15 (coming in at 1:10), the swimmer in the middle lane was waiting to challenge me. At least that’s what it seemed like. He had either been watching me, or just happened to guess exactly when I would push off the wall for my next 100… and he decided to swim freestyle. It was pretty exciting. I wasn’t too concerned in the beginning, because I had already decided that I was faster than him, so I went out on pace. He jumped out ahead of me pretty quickly. I was surprised, so I kicked it up a notch. He continued to pull away from me as we entered our turn. I kicked it up a bit more, but knew I would be dead on the second 50 if I pushed any harder. He didn’t pull any further ahead of me, but beat me soundly to the second turn. I decided I wasn’t going to let him beat me and kicked it up again, only to find that he was done. He did a flip-turn, but came out on his back and was clearly doing a warm-down. At first he was enjoying his “victory,” but I continued on. I’m sure I wasn’t pushing as hard without the competition, but I was still going. As I came back after the 3rd turn I hoped he realized that I hadn’t been pushing as hard as I would if I knew he was only going half way… and then I contemplated going to 200 without stopping to emphasize my point, but reality kicked in and I stopped at the wall. He stopped at the other end after his 25 yard back stroke. I wondered if he would jump in and race me again, but he got out. I continued through my workout.

I never really thought I’d run into someone as fast as I am at Gold’s Gym. I’m still not sure I did, but I think it’s at least possible. He was built much like a WWE wrestler or an NFL fullback… in other words, not all that different from me. The thrill of competition is invigorating. I think I would get a much better workout if I had some real competition more often. That was fun.

Swim:
300 Free warm-up
150 Kick warm-up
50 Free warm-up
Stretch
5 x 100 Free @ 2:15 (coming in under 1:15)
6 x 50 Kick @ 1:30 (coming in under 0:50)
200 Free warm-down
————
1200 yards